


Hard Earned Happiness

by thorkified



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Magic, huntsman!Thor, past trauma/abuse, witch!AU, witch!loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 13:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16577303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorkified/pseuds/thorkified
Summary: After their painful and traumatizing journey, Thor, Loki and Hel can finally find some peace. Loki has grown fond of Thor's little sister, who is just like him and who seems to be very curious about what he can do. One day, when she asks about his powers, the two have a heartfelt, important conversation.





	Hard Earned Happiness

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Witch's Promise](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428002) by [thorkified](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorkified/pseuds/thorkified). 



> Just a little something I wanted to write for this verse. Enjoy!

“How do you do that?” The tiny voice broke Loki out of his concentration and the green billow weavering around him dissolved. He turned around and raised his head, a smile on his lips. Hel had just woken up apparently, her hair was still messy and uncombed and Thor was nowhere to be seen, indicating the huntsman was still peacefully out.

“Do you want me to show you?” he asked, earning an eager not. She stepped into the circle Loki sat in and when he patted on the ground in front of him she sat down. “You can do this too, you know. All you need to do is practice.”

“Because I’m like you, am I right?” Hel beamed up at Loki with her green and red eyes, earning another soft smile.

“You are, that’s true,” he said and took one of her little hands into his. He trailed a finger down her palm, tracing the almost invisible lines there. “You are very strong, Hel, but you need to learn how to control your magic, otherwise it won’t obey you.”

“Obey?” Hel asked and tilted her head, brows furrowing in confusion. “But didn’t you say magic is chaos?”

“It is, but we have the ability to bend it to our will. Look.”

Loki let go of Hel’s hand and brought his own palms together, forming a small hollow space between his hands. He blew into it slowly before unfolding his hands, revealing a small, glowing butterfly on his palms.

“Most humans don’t believe in magic until they need it, until they find use in it. But you and I, we know it’s always there, that it’s always around us and within us.”

Hel looked at the little butterfly in complete awe, eyes huge and fascinated.

“This? It’s just an illusion, but it’s also very real,” Loki explained and blew softly onto the butterfly again. Suddenly, it spread its blue and white wings and fluttered away from them, before dissolving in mid-air. “We can use the magic that is everywhere, as long as we respect and honor it.”

“And you can teach me?” Hel asked impressed, earning a nod.

“If you want to learn, I will happily teach you,” Loki smiled. “But you have to promise me something first.”

“What is it?” Hel looked suspicious, but Loki just smiled brighter at her.

“To never hurt someone using this gift that we received. The humans fear us, they might call us evil or try to hurt us, but they don’t know any better, they are brought up to fear the things they don’t understand.”

“But… what if they try to hurt me? Or my brother and you?”

“You can use it to defend yourself and to protect those you love, but don’t use it for revenge or out of hate. It’s not the right way for us.”

Hel was silent for a moment and Loki knew her next words would be hard to stomach. When she finally spoke again, her voice was quiet, almost as if she was ashamed to say anything at all.

“He made me use my magic to hurt others…” She didn’t look at Loki, instead she glared at her hands as if they were something disgusting, something evil. “He said they deserve it because they killed others like me…”

“What he did was wrong, Hel, you have to remember that,” Loki said softly, covering the little girl’s hands with his own. “He lied to you to control you, it’s not your fault that you did these things. I… have done bad things too in the past. Very bad things…”

“What did you do?” Hel asked, her innocent curiosity unaware of the fact that Loki had probably committed the worst crime of them all without even realizing it at the time.

“When I was a child, my mother was known as a sage to the village we lived in. She was a white witch, as some called her. They came to her when they were sick, when they needed guidance and advice, but one day…” Loki stopped for a moment as he tried to swallow down the wave of guilt that still came up whenever he thought about this dark time in his life. “Just like with you, it wasn’t my fault, but something bad happened and a little girl died because of me. But that’s not all. Because of this, the village people accused my mother of being evil, of being a witch that cursed the little girl and caused her death and… they killed her.”

Hel looked at him for a long time as the words sunk in, the sadness in her eyes even worse than before. Loki knew she had to find out one day, but that didn’t lessen the pain he felt by putting this knowledge on her just yet. Eventually, without saying a word, Hel leaned forward and wrapped her little arms around the older witch tightly. As Loki held her with one arm, he realized that she, too, had lost her mother in a cruel and traumatizing way, and knew it had only happened because of her. When she finally pulled back and sat down again, Loki noticed the stray tears on her cheeks and gently wiped them away.

“Sometimes bad things happy, darling,” he said with a sad smile. “Those people were scared, they didn’t know what they were doing. I tried to explain to them, but they chased me away, which is how I came here, into the woods where it was just me.”

“Do you still miss her?” Hel asked quietly, to which Loki nodded. “I miss my mother too… she was so nice and good, she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

“Neither did you,” Loki sighed, brushing a hand through the girl’s soft, raven hair that was so much like his own. “You and I, we had a bad start. We lost so many things we shouldn’t have lost, but we still have something that no one can take away from us.”

“Our magic?” Hel asked confused, but this time, Loki shook his head.

“We have ourselves and we have love. You still have your love, don’t you? For your mother and for your brother?”

Hel nodded, but stayed silent. She looked over at the small cabin for a moment, almost as if she could actually see the sleeping huntsman inside, and after a while, her lips curled into a weak smile.

“They couldn’t take that away from us and now we have something even better. We have each other now.” At this, Hel blinked a few times and turned her head. “We wouldn’t be here now if your brother hadn’t come to me last year and I wouldn’t know you or him. Maybe we lost many things, but on the way we found each other. And I’m very happy about that.”

Hel’s eyes lightened up and she threw herself forward again, hugging Loki tightly.

“I’m happy to have you too!” she exclaimed, her voice a mixture of relieve and grief. Loki held her with both arms this time, trying to make sure she understood how unwilling he was to let her go again.

“I will protect you now, Hel, and your brother too. And one day, when you learned all you can learn from me, you will be just as powerful and able to protect those you love.”

“I’ll learn everything, I promise!” Hel said eagerly and bounced back to her spot. “I want to do what you can do!”

“You will, I’m sure of that,” Loki laughed and ruffled her already messy hair again. “How about we start with meditating?”

“Meditating, really?” Hel groaned and it couldn’t be any clearer that she was disappointed. “That’s so  _ boring _ !”

“I was meditating when you came to me, you didn’t think of it as boring then, did you?”

“You were?” Hel raised a brow. “The green light came from meditating?”

“It did,” Loki smiled and got back into the right position. Hel mimicked it immediately, curious to find out if Loki was telling the truth. “Meditating is very helpful to channel your thoughts and your powers. It empties your head from all thoughts that are distracting, it makes you see clearer and further than you can imagine.”

“Further? You mean into the future?”

“Sometimes,” Loki smirked and closed his eyes. He put his hands on his knees, open palms facing skywards and took a deep breath. “You have to know that the magic never leaves us, it’s always there, it’s a part of everything in existence. It’s the one thing that connects us all, whether we realize it or not. When you reach a point of complete clarity, you can do many things.”

“And how do I do that?” Hel asked, earning a quiet chuckle.

“That’s what I will teach you now,” Loki said and that’s exactly what he did over the next two hours. Hel was still a bit impatient, which Loki had expected, but she was an eager and willing student. She followed Loki’s instructions with a lot of determination and it didn’t take long before he could see the first improvements.

When Thor finally rose from his seemingly infinite slumber, he found Loki and Hel outside with both their eyes closed, surrounded by what looked like a green and blue mist or fog. The only sounds were those of the crows that sat in the tree crowns and when Thor looked up, it appeared as if they were watching the two witches beneath them. 

Thor wanted to say something, but just looking at this scenery made him feel a calmness he had rarely felt before and he thought that it would be unwise to interrupt whatever they were doing. So, the huntsman decided to sit down on the stairs to watch and wait for them to finish. He didn’t mind just sitting there in silence, not really. Every day since Loki had returned to them was something special, something sacred, and it didn’t matter what actually happened. They were together, that’s all he cared for.


End file.
